


Past Imperfect

by TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsFoxfire



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Family Feels, Flashbacks, Friendship, Married Life, Pregnancy, Pregnant Sex, Science, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:20:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22254028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsFoxfire/pseuds/TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsFoxfire
Summary: Repost 3.Fluff. Lots of fluff. So much fluff. Pregnant Cosima and Delphine being a total babe.Chapters 3 and 9 are rated M, the rest are safe.
Relationships: Delphine Cormier/Cosima Niehaus
Comments: 7
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Characters belong to BBC America and Orphan Black.

Delphine strolled along happily, humming a catchy French nursery rhyme from her youth as she browsed the stalls of the farmers market in the lazy Sunday morning sun, summer hat pulled down stylishly in a way so that she did not need to wear sunglasses. Her long wavy hair fell over her shoulders, glass keep-cup full with hot coffee from her favourite weekend vendor. As she meandered the stalls that overflowed with organic vegetables and colourful fruits, and had her attention vied for by the curious characters plying their wares, she picked up items here and there depending on if they fit with meal plans she had for the week ahead, or whether or not they were one of Cosima’s personal favourites. Her wife, she smiled widely to herself at the term - still so wonderfully exciting to use even two years after they had married - was nearly thirty seven weeks pregnant and now far too uncomfortable to join her on these excursions, preferring to nest at home and do things like watch reruns of her favourite childhood cartoons to see which ones she would be showing their child once she had been born.  
Stopping to smell a rather beautiful crate of local apricots and find a couple of the juiciest looking ones for her and her love to enjoy when she got home, Delphine allowed her happiness to emanate from her in what she’s sure Cosima would call ‘good fucking vibes man’.  
Since Topside and DYAD had fallen, and after the self aware clone club had picked up their broken pieces and managed to rebuild their lives together bit by precious bit, Cosima and Delphine had spent a considerable amount of time travelling the world to cure the hundreds of naive Ledas of their dormant autoimmune disease. Once they had completed this mammoth task, they had returned to Toronto in agreement that being close to Cosima’s sestras and their respective families mattered more than most all things, considering what they had all been through together and how they had come to rely on each other’s unconditional love and trust. What they hadn’t expected, however, was for Cosima’s healed uterus to suddenly begin a typical cycle for the first time in years, or for her to be fertile, or for her to do a 180 on her feelings regarding offspring. Delphine smiled to herself again, this time at the memory of Felix handing off one of Helena’s twins to a terrified Cosima four years ago in Alison’s yard, before she’d admitted to her sestras and then later to Delphine that she had zero maternal instincts and desire to have children. She had worried it made her selfish, or a coward, or undesirable as a partner. Delphine had kissed her sweetly that night and reassured her that for then, at least, the extended family they had acquired had quite enough children for them to contend with. She’d never considered them for herself before anyway, and they had so much more time to enjoy each other and discuss what their future might look like.  
Moving on to the freshly landed seafood section of the market, Delphine broke her trail of thought to purchase some mackerel for Cosima, who had temporarily waved a white flag to her vegetarianism once she had begun getting cravings and reading about the health benefits of consuming certain foods while pregnant. Oily fish, Delphine had argued, was not considered a wise choice. Cosima had then proceeded to spam her work email inbox for an entire week with scientific studies from Scandinavia that proved otherwise, citing language and communication skills were more developed in babies who’d been exposed to it in the womb. Their child would be bilingual at least, so ‘it totally makes sense Cormier and you know it.’  
After that, Delphine had relented, respecting that such choices were not solely hers and could be backed up by the crazy science, and also that she had far better luck compromising infrequent consumption of the fish than attempting to persuade a very stubborn Cosima to not eat it at all.  
Delphine took a sip of her coffee, and allowed the smell and taste of it, combined with the warm sun on her skin, to wash over her senses. They’d come such a long way since those first conversations about childbearing and parenthood, and now she couldn’t imagine anything she wanted more from life than to have this child with her wife.  
Her phone bleeped, signalling a text message, and she stopped walking momentarily to pull it from her bag and unlock it. A photo from Cosima appeared, taken from her point of view as she stretched out on her back looking over her exposed belly towards the tv. Clearly distorting the shape of her rounded body was the outline of a tiny limb sticking out to left. Delphine felt her heart flutter. The message that came through immediately after read:

We have a winner!

Delphine squinted through the sunlight back to the photo to see what show was on the television screen. Some sort of upright tortoise in a mask? She narrowed her eyes. Not wanting to seem uncool or out of touch, she quickly google image searched ‘American+cartoon+80s+tortoise’ and was relieved when the first picture she saw was what Cosima was watching. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Who? Too slow she realised, Cosima had caught on to her radio silence:

Weak dude, you had to google?

Stifling the laughter erupting from her chest so she wouldn’t draw attention to herself, she tapped back.

I can’t help that I am more sophisticated than you, chérie.

Then:

I’ll be home to you both soon!

Cosima’s reply was a string of emojis that lacked any sort of meaning, followed by a couple of x’s.  
She locked her phone, smiling, and placed it back in her bag. Her belly fluttered, as it always did when she saw or felt her child moving inside Cosima’s body. She felt her chest swell a little with pride, chuckling to herself at how much she enjoyed this role as provider and protector.  
Having now bought everything she wanted to get from the market she made her way back to her car. Fumbling a little with full hands to find the keys and open the door, she placed her wares down on the passenger seat, strapped herself in and set off back in the direction of their house.


	2. Chapter 2

“Chérie, I’m home!” Delphine sang as she stepped over the oak threshold of their house, light spilling in to the long, tastefully decorated hallway. She suspected that Cosima would still be in the living room watching TV, so she popped her head around the door on the way to the kitchen. Sure enough, Cosima hadn’t moved an inch since she’d left for the market earlier that morning. She was stretched on the sofa in just a sports bra and yoga pants, facing away from the door and towards the television. Her palms were flattened and resting gently on her swollen belly. A glance at the television showed that she had replaced the turtles with a new cartoon in the time it had taken for Delphine to drive home. One toned and tanned arm stretched back to reach for her as its owners head reclined over the arm of the sofa to reveal wide, weepy eyes and a sniffly nose. Delphine could not get used to Cosima’s hormone changes, no matter how much they fluctuated and or how frequent they had become. Seeing her love crying always sent shooting pains straight into her heart and gut, even if she’d been there to see that it wasn’t over anything in particular.  
“Are you ok, mon amour?” She placed her groceries on the floor as she reached to intertwine her fingers with Cosima’s outstretched ones, staying bent at the knees to be able to kiss her wife on the cheek and belly in greeting.  
“Yeah, I’m all good.” Another sniff. “Just the Wile E Coyote ran off the cliff and I suddenly felt bad for the dude you know? He gets such a bad rap and he’s probs just trying to feed his family.” A fresh set of tears threatened and her bottom lip wobbled. Delphine felt her heart melt a little at the sentiment.  
“Ah, oui, Bip Bip et Coyote. This one I know.”  
A sudden, loud, wet laugh erupted from Cosima as her tear stained face broke out into a huge grin.  
“Oh god.” The giggling continued. “Every time I think I’m used to you being French, you roll another one out and I’m just, like, gone.”  
The blonde doctor narrowed her eyes in mock offence, and then leant forward to place happy little kisses all over Cosima’s face.  
“You are lucky you are so pretty, Cosima. Insolent brat.”  
Cosima’s giggling grew louder as she wrapped her arms around Delphine’s neck and pulled her in for a long kiss, one that started chaste and moved slowly into something more suggestive. Before they got carried away, Delphine pulled her head back and smiled apologetically at her love.  
“The groceries need putting away, would either of you like something to eat?”  
Cosima’s eyes crinkled with happiness, as they always did when Delphine referred to her and their unborn baby as separate people with separate needs.  
“Yeah, the little one wants ice cream for lunch again. I told her no, but the kid’s obsessed.” A rueful grin took over her features as she glanced up at a now standing, stern looking Delphine.  
“You know, when she’s out, you won’t be able to blame her for your terrible meal choices anymore.”  
“When she’s out I won’t be craving ice cream, like, seven days a week!”  
Cosima motioned for Delphine to help her up off the sofa, and as she did so, she wrapped her wife in a warm and gentle hug.  
“Okay, okay, fine. I guess I’ll have what you’re having. This one,” she pointed at her belly, “will just have to deal. Can’t wait til she can talk and take my side.”  
Delphine shook her head, smiling, and made her way to the kitchen with her bags of shopping. The thought of their baby being able to walk and talk and act like a miniature Cosima had her grinning to herself like a fool as she meandered around the large, open space putting things away.  
After lunch, which consisted of Delphine’s homemade ginger, chilli and squash soup with a crusty baguette, they reclined together on the sofa, content to spend the rest of their Sunday together relaxing. Delphine sat with her back to the arm, body open and legs spread so that Cosima could lay back against her comfortably and prop a magazine up on her belly for them both to browse.  
Delphine wrapped her long arms around Cosima’s chest, one hand pressed to her loves heart and the other caressing sweet patterns across her stomach as she breathed in at her neck and buried her face in soft dreads.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is NSFW you guys. Trigger warning for pregnancy sex if that's not your thing.

A while had passed since they had last spoken, or really even moved. Delphine’s hand had stopped stroking her skin some time ago although her arms had stayed wrapped snugly around the smaller body in front of her, and Cosima was pretty sure her wife had taken a swift nose dive into the land of nod.  
“Delphine?” She let her head fall back slightly into the shoulder behind her as she spoke. Sure enough, Delphine’s eyelids were closed and her breathing was low and even. Flowing blonde waves framed her beautiful, sleep softened features, and the beginnings of summer freckles were just visible on her nose and across the exposed skin of her chest through the loose v neck t-shirt she was wearing. To Cosima she radiated strength and protection, yet softness and love.  
“Dammit, who looks that attractive when they sleep?” Cosima whined to herself, feeling her hormones begin to shift and a need to be intimately touched rise.  
“Delphine, wake up.”  
When she got nothing in response, she pressed herself back suggestively into her wife’s body, and moved both of Delphine’s hands from their resting places to her sports bra clad chest where she pressed them to her sensitive and swollen boobs. A small, sleepy moan came from behind her, and then previously limp fingers became controlled, exploring digits. She felt hot breath on the back of her neck, and a soft kiss pressed just behind her ear as Delphine’s hands massaged the muscles on her chest and then slipped her fingers under the top of the sports bra to leisurely play with already tightening, highly receptive nipples. Cosima let out a shaky breath and hummed her appreciation, gently grinding her hips as she enjoyed the attention her wife was giving her.  
Since she’d started showing, Delphine had become hyper aware and mindful of every movement she made around Cosima and every position they found themselves in when they made love, but the protectiveness she exuded only fuelled the fire in the brunettes blood and she found herself needing Delphine’s touches even more than before she was pregnant, if that was even possible.  
Long fingers were still playing nimbly with her nipples at a languid, teasing pace as Cosima’s neck and shoulders were treated to nibbles, then soft bites and then soothing strokes of Delphine’s hot tongue. She meandered her way along until she reached the shell of Cosima’s ear, where she blew hot air and grazed her teeth over the warm flesh knowing how much it turned her wife on. Sure enough, Cosima let out a long, low moan at the contact and wound her arm back to wrap around Delphine’s neck and knead at the muscles there with her fingers.  
Her nipples were now rock hard and aching, and as good as it felt to be worked up slowly like this Cosima needed the weight of her wife above her faster, and pulsing out the sexy alpha vibes she was craving. She pushed back with her hips again and rocked. Bringing one of Delphine’s hands to her mouth, she slipped two fingers inside and sucked them in and out sensually, suggestively, swirling her tongue around them and between them, alternating licks by hardening the tip to draw patterns then flattening the muscle out to lick her fingers like a lollipop. She felt Delphine’s entire body tense and then finally begin to grind back, a barely audible string of French expletives passing her lips as her plans for a slow burn were quickly being overridden.  
Sensing she was having the desired effect on her wife, Cosima tilted her head back over the shoulder behind her again so that the blonde doctor could actually see what she was doing. More sucking and licking and swirling. More expletives. Then a shaky laugh.  
“You are incorrigible Cosima, merde.”  
Their lips met in a wet kiss at the slightly awkward angle of their heads, then Cosima pulled back slightly and looked into big, darkened doe eyes. Her tone was a little whiny and high, as her body hadn’t stopped grinding the entire time and she knew she was so close to getting what she wanted.  
“I’m so fucking horny. I need you on top of me baby, like, now.” Then to clarify she added, “just you, no toys.”  
Delphine felt a special kind of butterfly let loose deep in her belly, as she always did when pregnant-Cosima openly craved her in this way. She supposed it was the combination of trust, strength and responsibility that turned her hormone fuelled wife on so much to this position, because it was not the most comfortable for her by any stretch of the imagination. She placed a soft kiss to her wife’s temple.  
“Tell me if you need me to stop ok? I’ll be careful.”  
Cosima smiled back lovingly, the corners of her eyes crinkling and her pointy teeth on show.  
“You always are. Now help me move so you can get up.”  
Delphine let out a noise that sounded distinctly like a suppressed tut, but she smiled wryly and placed her hands supportively on Cosima’s back to push her far enough forward that she could slip out from behind her.  
Cosima immediately attempted to scoot backwards but before she could get particularly far she was met by Delphine placing throw cushions behind her to create a recline for her hips. The doctor winked when their eyes met, mouthing ‘crazy science’ with a shared sweet smile before Cosima suddenly pouted with impatience. She pulled her own bra off over her head and launched it across the room. Delphine pulled her t-shirt over her head and followed suit with her bra, although she allowed hers to drop gracefully onto the coffee table instead of some random destination around the room. She shed her own trousers too, under the intense and hungry gaze of Cosima, along with her panties and socks. Naked, she moved to kneel between her wife’s legs and hooked her fingers under the waistband of her burgundy yoga pants. She pulled them down slowly and kissed the inside of each knee as she passed them, then each ankle too for good measure, still intent on slowing everything right down. Her pulse quickened and heat rushed between her legs when she saw that her wife wasn’t wearing any underwear, and she was treated to a very sexy smile when she glanced back up at Cosima’s face with one eyebrow arched.  
Delphine inhaled the freed scent of her love deeply and then began kissing her way up Cosima’s right leg from the protruding bone at her ankle, over soft flexing muscles at her calf, to a quivering thigh whose apex almost drew her in before she could pay the same attention to the left. She resisted however, much to Cosima’s frustration, and worked her mouth back down to her wife’s feet slowly. She gently kneaded her thumb into the arch and ball of one foot, and then the other. An appreciative yet somehow exasperated sounding moan left Cosima’s lips.  
“Babe that feels amazing but-“  
“Shh. Let me look after you. We’ll get there, don’t worry.”  
Cosima sighed but poured love out of her eyes so she didn’t hurt her wife’s feelings.  
“I love you looking after me but right now I want to fuck like I’m not an incubator for another human.“  
Delphine smiled into the soft skin she was nuzzling, and stopped what she was doing altogether to move up and hover directly above her wife. Careful not to place any of her weight on the body below her, she held herself up with strong arms on either side of Cosima’s head, and dug her feet into where the arm of the sofa met the cushion for leverage. A curtain of wavy blonde hair cascaded around Cosima’s face, and Delphine’s big eyes were looking down full of sympathy and love and desire.  
“Soon mon amour. Once you feel like it, of course. We won’t stop.” She waggled her eyebrows and poked out her tongue playfully, before placing soft kisses down her wife’s jaw and to both corners of her mouth. Cosima’s hands buried in blonde hair and pulled her closer, her heart aching with the love she felt for Delphine. She pushed her tongue into her wife’s mouth and swirled it around expertly, humming so that vibrations passed between their mouths.  
Still holding herself up, Delphine pushed back on to her hands and then made her way down to kneel between Cosima’s legs again, kissing and licking soft skin the entire way, relieving her now aching calves of her own weight. She knew now what Cosima was craving. She knew the exact science of how to give it to her and how long she had to do so before it became a bad idea. Being a pair of scientists well versed in thorough research and experimentation definitely had its benefits. She smiled into the palm of Cosima’s outstretched right hand, which had found its way into her hair and then moved to cup her cheek lovingly. Placing her hands slightly lower than their previous position, this time on either side of Cosima between her ribs and waist and directly next to the cushions she was propped up on, Delphine slipped her hips between her wife’s open legs and brought herself down to meet her so that their mounds were touching, hers slightly lower to create delicious friction on Cosima’s clit when she pushed upwards. Cosima let out a shaky breath as Delphine finally moved into the position she wanted her in, and brought her left hand up to join her right in cupping her wife’s beautifully concentrated face. With the baby between them, they couldn’t reach to kiss each other like this, nor did Delphine trust herself to carry her weight on one arm like she’d done when the bump was smaller so that she could touch Cosima more intimately with her fingers, so they’d got really good at maneuvering just their hips against each other during the latter stages of Cosima’s pregnancy, with and without toys.  
They were both soaking wet and slick down their thighs now, and once Delphine had found the angle, pressure and rhythm where her exposed clit brushed against Cosima’s deliciously with each stroke, the room was filled with the sounds of rough panting both from the exertion of the position and from the building pleasure between them.  
Cosima had settled one set of fingers behind Delphine’s ear to tickle the sensitive skin there and the other over her shoulder, gripping tight and digging in with short nails. Her eyes had fluttered closed and her head lolled back on the cushions as she fell deep into the sensations her body was experiencing, allowing herself to be moved by Delphine’s thrusts. Soft, low moans began to escape her, and soon she was rotating her hips as much in time with her wife as she could manage.  
Delphine’s arms were on fire, but her hips seemed to be tireless as she fucked Cosima with her clit in exactly the way she knew her love desired. Sweat was running down her back in trails she could feel tickling her hot skin and then pooling at the base of her spine. Her breathing had become erratic and laboured and she could feel her own orgasm hovering just out of reach but she ignored in favour of chasing Cosima’s. She watched herself thrust, enjoying the way they fit together, and the way her wife’s now bigger breasts bounced with each movement. She lovingly swept her vision over the precious and perfect rounded body underneath her, then looked up and met Cosima’s pleasure filled eyes with her own. She could tell by the little crease forming between her love’s eyebrows and the way she was holding tension every few breaths that she was also feeling her orgasm approaching, but Delphine could see the beginnings of discomfort too, and paired with her own screaming muscles she knew they couldn’t keep it up long enough in this position for either of them to come. She gave her hips a last couple of pumps, eyed Cosima to give her fair warning and then one more thrust into her just because it felt so fucking good, and then she pushed herself back away from the body beneath her to reposition them as efficiently as possible.  
Cosima’s body was so pliable from pleasure, almost jelly-like as she allowed herself to be moved forward so that the cushions could be removed and she was laid gently on her side with her back against the sofa so her belly could rest comfortably facing outward. Delphine immediately resettled herself with her head between her wife’s thighs, resting the top one on her cheek and wrapping her arm around it to hold her in place. She inhaled the sharp, musky scent of Cosima’s wetness, allowing the pheromones to penetrate her brain and effect her in ways no other smell ever had. A grunt came from above, and Delphine’s face was unceremoniously pulled into the slick folds in front of her by an inpatient hand in her hair. Knowing all Cosima needed right now was to come, and come hard, she found her clit immediately and began to suck it and lick it and lavish it with rhythmic attention that she knew from years of practice would guarantee to push her over the edge quickly.  
Cosima was writhing as much as her body would allow, and the more she felt Delphine’s slick tongue against her clit working in that sweet way it was, the more she gripped her wife’s hair and pushed her harder into her wetness. Her orgasm was dancing just out of sight, but it was there, and she held her breath as she ground her hips to coax it out. She could just see the golden waves of the hair she was holding onto over her belly, and further down the sofa how Delphine’s hips were grinding wantonly in the same way they had been grinding into her moments before. Suddenly, white light seared through her eyes until she couldn’t keep them open and her entire body tensed and shook as she came, her legs pressed tight to either side of Delphine’s head as she rode the continued movements of her tongue until it was all too much and her hips bucked away from the contact. She was falling in to a black hole of ecstasy, that much was for sure, as she felt pulses of pleasure throb from between her legs to every corner of her body. Her hands reached out for Delphine, who was still licking and sucking every part of swollen, sensitive skin she could find to draw out the last few ripples of her wife’s orgasm. She tugged gently on damp golden hair, and mumbled a little incoherently until she managed to find words.  
“Hold me.”  
Delphine’s glistening and glowing face appeared above her hip as she extracted herself from between thighs, smiling so happily it made Cosima’s heart ache. She motioned for the brunette to shuffle over a little then wedged herself in between the back of the sofa and her wife, shifting slightly until they got comfy and could spoon. Delphine buried her face in to Cosima’s dreads near her neck, kissing them even though she knew she couldn’t feel it, nuzzling herself in until she found soft neck to rest on, fingers tracing slow patterns on the side of her swollen belly where she was greeted by a series of small kicks from their unborn child. Smiling, she tangled their lower legs together and curled her toes into Cosima’s whilst simultaneously finding her wife’s hand with her own so that they could feel their baby kick together.  
“Nous t'aimons, Cosima.”  
A satisfied hum of delight vibrated out of the smaller woman. “We love you even more, Delphine.”


	4. Chapter 4

Sat where she was, in her office at the University of Toronto, Delphine had quite the view of campus as the midday sun illuminated the lush greens of the trees and the vibrant clashing colours of students clothes as they milled about in groups below. She was lost in thought, wading through memory after memory of exactly how she’d gone through each version of Dr. Delphine Cormier to this exact one she had settled in. Ten years ago, non, even five when she’d first met Cosima, she would never have pictured herself as a university professor teaching the next generation of budding immunologists, and settled into a wonderful marriage with a baby almost in their arms. It felt so right to her, to be where she was, even though it was a world away from what she had expected from her life. Some of the memories were painful and she didn’t like to dwell too long on them, choosing instead to lightly brush them with her consciousness - acknowledge they happened - and move on to the next positive. It was something she had been working on for years and now had almost perfected, she wanted to be the strongest and best version of herself for her soon-to-be-born daughter. Her heart and stomach, and just about every other part of her, fluttered as usual when she thought of the baby and then by extension the body growing the baby. She felt herself smiling, and bring her fingers to her face to cup her own cheek as she lost herself momentarily in the warmth spreading through her. Cosima had been pregnant for nearly 38 weeks, and sometimes Delphine was still absolutely overwhelmed with the fact, even more so the closer they got to the actual birth. She swept her focus around her office, taking in the orderly fashion in which she kept things here because Cosima didn’t inhabit the space - another fond smile crossed her features - and let her eyes rest on the set of three photos on her desk. They were all in tasteful matching frames, simple in their muted appearance and symmetry. She knew the photos like the back of her hand; found herself staring at them on a daily, if not hourly basis, but she never could stop herself from falling in once her vision was caught. The furthest from her was Cosima and herself on their first real vacation together, the first after project clone cure. They had gone to Mexico for two weeks, and had taken the photo on Cosima’s phone at sunset on the peak of a large hill overlooking the ocean. They looked sweaty and natural and carefree, their faces pressed impossibly together for the selfie. Delphine remembered how they’d spent the evening and long into the night on that hill watching the stars, debating astrology and mythology and ancient civilisations. She saw the excitement of being alive, of finally being free of disease and of DYAD in that photo. The second frame held an image of just her wife, in a full graduation gown and precariously placed cap upon her neatly pulled back dreads, taken around two years after the fall of Topside; the day she had graduated with a PhD in Evolutionary Development from the University of Minnesota. Cosima was positively vibrating with happiness, her huge grin exposing her pointy teeth and her head cocked slightly to one side as her framed eyes had found Delphine’s standing just behind her dad and his camera tripod. As her focus shifted to the third and final photo, Delphine was sure her smile couldn’t get any wider, but somehow, impossibly, it always did. The most recent addition to her desk collection was a photo taken around two months ago in Alison’s backyard. The Hendrix’s had been hosting a barbecue for Oscar’s birthday, and the entire clan had been invited over for the day and evening. Delphine was sat on the top step of the patio, Cosima between her legs on the second step down with her body turned halfway inward to face her wife. They were unaware of the photographer, and only had eyes for each other. Delphine’s right arm was tucking lose dreads behind Cosima’s ear on the side she couldn’t see, and her left hand was spread out across her wife’s pregnant belly, fingers intertwined with Cosima’s own, lovingly holding both her wife and unborn child. They were laughing with each other, and sharing a plate of food. She couldn’t remember what they had been talking about at that exact point, but it didn’t matter, not to her, not when they were looking at each other the way they were. Felix had sent her the photo the next day via email, and she had bought him the finest damn bottle of bourbon she could find in return.  
Shaking herself out of the reverie, Delphine closed her eyes and stretched her arms above her head, feeling little pops in her shoulders and vertebrae as she lengthened out. As she dropped her arms back down to her sides, she glanced at her watch. Merde, time had run away. Nearly time for lunch and a phone call to Cosima, to check in. She moved her right hand to the mouse of her computer and shook it slightly to wake the up the monitor and the work she had been neglecting for half an hour. She sighed. Deadlines were deadlines after all.  
Just then, her phone began to ring, the unmistakably shrill tone piercing through the oak of her desk drawer. Delphine felt her heart pick up rhythm before she’d even reached to open it and pull the phone out. Nobody ever called her at work except for Cosima, and her wife knew her timetable off by heart, knew when she couldn’t really afford to chat. This could only mean-  
Her phone screen was lit up with Felix’s name, and her brow furrowed in confusion. If Cosima hadn’t been ready to pop, she would have ignored his call, but her mind nagged that she shouldn’t ignore anything from their extended family at this point in time. He could be with Cosima. She swiped her thumb across the screen and waited a second for the connection.  
“Felix? Is Cosima ok?”  
“Well hello to you too, Delphine. I’m just fabulous, thanks for asking.” That mock-disdain filled tone floated through the phone into her ear, frustration already buzzing back through her brain at the sound.  
“Felix, I’m at work-“  
“Yes, yes. I know exactly where you are, hence the phone call. Sometimes I really don’t think you’re as clever as you say you are. Anyway, you’re on speaker. I’ve got your wife here. You know the one: dreadlocks, tattoos, belly the size of-oww! You geeky arsehole!”  
Delphine pinched the bridge of her nose but found herself smiling tightly too, in frustration of how long it was taking Felix to get to the point, and with the knowledge that Cosima was well enough to have caused him some discomfort at his words.  
“As I was saying before I was taken out by the mother of your child throwing projectiles - good luck with that one in labour by the way - I’m with Cosima, dear. She’s in a puddle of what can only be described as *disgusting* and asked me to call you-“  
Cosima’s distant projected voice came through the receiver, interrupting Felix.  
“I’m ok, Delphine. My waters have broken but I haven’t had a contraction yet.”  
Delphine was already standing as she heard her wife’s voice, turning off the computer, packing up her briefcase and making for the door.  
“Ok, chérie,” she called back, knowing she didn’t have to rush but not being able to stop herself, “I’m leaving now. Call me again if anything changes ok? Je t’aime.”  
“What am I, a limp fish? Last time I do anything for you two. Lesbians, honestly.” Delphine could hear the smile in Felix’s voice, and found herself smiling back. After all they’d been through, all they’d endured, he kept his personality true and strong in the face of any obstacle. She’d come to admire and love that man as if he were her brother.  
“Je t’aime aussi Felix.”  
“Well then. I suppose you’re alright. For a Frenchie.” He blew a loud double air kiss down the phone and hung up.  
Delphine flicked the light off in her office as she pushed through the door frame, and turned to lock it with shaky hands. This was happening. Cosima was going into labour. Soon, they really would be parents. A physical baby. Her head swam with emotion as she set off down the corridor to administration to let them know Cosima’s waters had broken and she would be leaving on maternity effective immediately.

***************

Delphine pulled up outside their house, heart racing and pulse thumping in every fibre of her body. She could feel the anticipation and the anxiety of looming parenthood coursing through her blood, but mostly she was overcome with terror that she wasn’t going to be good enough for Cosima now that the actual birth was upon them. It was getting hot, and hard to breathe. She rested her head against her hands on the steering wheel and took deep breaths as she tried to compose herself. Thoughts flooded her head even as she tried to distract herself by counting in and out. How was she going to watch her love go through so much pain? How was she going to remain strong while her wife was doing just about the strongest thing anyone on the planet could do? What if she forgot everything she’d read and didn’t say the right words or-  
“Oi, father to be! You just gonna sit there all day and leave me with your mrs while she pushes another human out of her own body? You know I have an irrational fear of vagina.”  
Delphine’s head snapped up to see Felix leaning against her front door frame, hip cocked and arms folded across his chest. His lip was curled up in an expression that said ‘unimpressed’ but his eyes glinted with mischief and excitement. Delphine shook her head momentarily in an attempt to compose herself. She stepped out from inside her car, pulling her briefcase and coat off the passenger seat and along with her as she reached the door, and the handsome man inhabiting it’s step. She kissed him on both cheeks, as was their custom, and met his now jovial and relaxed features with kind eyes. He tilted his head toward her and whispered conspiratorially:  
“Don’t worry so much, you’re going to be everything she needs and more.”  
Delphine ducked her head and looked back up from under her eyelashes, allowing Felix’s words to permeate her anxiety and chase it away.  
“You are hereby relieved of vagina duty Uncle Felix. Merci. So much. For always being there when we need you.” She squeezed his hand, felt him squeeze back, and then stepped around him to find her wife.


	5. Chapter 5

Delphine heard Felix closing the front door quietly behind him as he left the house. She hung her coat and briefcase over the end of the staircase in haste, not wanting to bother with the extra steps down the hall to her usual keeping place. Her mind was frantic now, even after Felix’s kind words, and she had to find her wife.  
“Cosima? Chérie, where are you?” She called down the hallway, hearing her voice bounce off walls and come back to her already vibrating mind like a boomerang.  
“I’m on - hmmmm - the sofa.” Cosima’s raised reply had been broken up by a strange sound of discomfort, and Delphine doubled her pace to a jog to get down the hallway to the living room.  
As she rounded the door frame a large portion of her worry momentarily dissipated at the sight of her wife, who was sat upright and spread legged on no less than three towels, one hand moving over her belly in soothing motions and the other holding up her phone for what seemed to be a video call. Delphine cocked her head and smiled questioningly as she made her way across the room.  
“Yeah mom, it’s fine I’ve got ages. Delphine’s here now. See?”  
The phone was swung up and pointed directly at her as she bent to kiss Cosima on the forehead, and she had to sweep her hair out of her face to see her mother-in-law on the screen.  
“Bonjour Irene,” She smiled happily at the sight of the kind older woman who treated her as if she were her own daughter from the second they had met, “how are you doing over there Granny Niehaus?”  
Cosima’s mother’s eye’s crinkled with happiness at the term, her smile widening much like her daughters did. Every time Delphine saw that particular smile on Irene’s face she was momentarily floored by how they were not biologically related.  
“Oh, hello yourself, Delphine. I’m doing just fine, very excited my grandkid is finally on her way into the world. Jim’s just booking plane tickets for tomorrow.”  
Delphine blew a kiss into the camera as she perched herself on the edge of the sofa, one hand resting on Cosima’s thigh and the other on her swollen belly. Her attention went back to Cosima, as her wife repositioned the phone to landscape so they were both on the screen.  
“Was that a contraction before? When you called out?”  
“Yeah I think so, just a little one.”  
Delphine glanced at her watch, making a mental note of the time. She knew they shouldn’t leave for hours yet, or rush anything, but all of her protective and maternal instincts were telling her to get Cosima to the midwife. She heard a chuckle from the phone, and one of Cosima’s arms moved around her neck to bring her in for a cuddle. Lips brushed her temple. She suddenly became aware of the tension she was carrying on her facial muscles.  
“Hey, slow down Tokyo Drift, we’ve got hours.”  
By now, Delphine was used to not understanding what many of Cosima’s references meant - she usually stored them in her brain and googled them later - but right now she found the normalcy of the comment comforting and relaxed slightly into her wife. Cosima’s father’s voice filled the room as he bustled into the tiny screen in front of them brandishing white pages in a little plastic folder.  
“Tickets are booked and printed hon. We’ll be arriving at one, and coming straight to the hospital. Couldn’t get us on an earlier flight this late, I’m afraid. We don’t want to miss the birth, so you’ll have to cross your legs!”  
Cosima groaned and rolled her eyes at her dad, but she had a mischievous sparkle as she did so.  
“Dad, the only person coming in that room is the one who put me there in the first place,” Delphine felt a sharp prod to her midriff causing her to squeak uncharacteristically. A deep blush crept up her neck at the insinuation and she hid her face in Cosima’s neck as her wife continued, “so you guys don’t have to rush. We’ve, like, totally got this covered.”  
“I have no doubt. Let us know when you leave for hospital?”  
“Yeah, no probs. Love you guys. See you tomorrow!”  
Delphine watched from her nook in her wife’s neck as Cosima and her parents said goodbye, and she blew another kiss at them before they signed off. Once the phone had been unceremoniously thrown down onto the other side of the sofa, Delphine pulled herself out of the embrace with her wife and searched her eyes for hidden pain. Always the doctor, she thought to herself.  
“Stop being a doctor right now, Cormier.” Cosima’s words matching her trail of thought made her laugh out loud, and she leaned forward to press a loving kiss to the lips in front of her.  
“You need to call your parents too, let them know their grand-sprog is on her way.” Another soft kiss. She felt light fingers tuck her wavy blonde hair behind her ears on both sides of her head.  
“I know, I’ll call them as soon as it’s morning for them. Like you said, no rush.” Then, “It’s odd not to rush, no? I feel like we should be.”  
She pushed herself up off the sofa and bent to pick up the discarded brunch plates and cups from Felix’s late morning visit. Cosima poked her calf leisurely with bare toes, silently asking for her attention from behind. She turned too quickly, sensed heightened, and caught her wife staring at her ass. Framed eyes met her own with a flirty smile, but it was quickly replaced by a chewed bottom lip and widening pupils. When Cosima spoke, her voice was quiet and seeking reassurance.  
“Are you as nervous as I am now this actually happening? I’m about to have a baby. We’re about to have a baby.”  
Delphine’s quick mind warred between wanting to admit just how nervous she actually was, to wanting to be the strong reassuring figure she had been perfecting for this exact moment for nearly nine months. She decided on a compromise, somewhere in the middle. She focussed her eyes on Cosima’s and bent in front of her to join their hands at her wife’s spread knees.  
“I am more nervous than I have been in my entire life, chérie, but I am also so ready to do this with you. You are the strongest, most incredible person I know. I’ll be there every step of the way, and I’ll do whatever you need me to do. We’re a team remember? Making the crazy science.”  
She saw the light in Cosima’s eyes brighten, and she ceased chewing her lip, but seconds later her eyes scrunched closed and Delphine’s hands were trapped in a momentary vice. The same sound of discomfort from earlier escaped Cosima’s pursed lips as her second contraction took hold. Delphine checked her watch, it had been twenty two minutes.  
“I’ve got you, mon amour.” she whispered into Cosima’s knee as she placed soft kisses there and joined her in waiting for it to pass. “I’ve got you.”

**************

“Hoooooooly mother of fricken’ pearl, shit!”  
Delphine was out at the car in the dark using her phone as a torch as she checked for what felt like the millionth time that the back seat had their hospital bag and everything else they needed, or probably didn’t need, as this was the final time she could do so before they set off for the hospital. It was late, but not as late as she thought they’d be heading out. Cosima’s labour was progressing relatively quickly.  
She could hear Cosima in the hallway through the open door, a contraction subsiding but still coming as she was attempting to put her shoes and a jacket on. Profanities carrying through the quiet. Adamant that she didn’t need help. Her contractions were closer together now, and much more prolonged and painful. Delphine was trying not to lose herself in the stress of not being able to take her wife’s pain away, and she found that obsessing over small details over and over was actually helping with distraction. Cosima appeared in the doorway blocking some of the light from inside, the shadow she created catching Delphine’s attention and making her turn around. Cosima’s shoes were on but not tied and her jacket was on but not zipped. Her tank top stretched out over her belly but didn’t quite reach, showing off some skin between it and her burgundy yoga pants, which were old and worn by now, but definitely the most comfortable thing she owned. Her dreads were pulled up in to a bun that wasn’t as neat as she probably would have liked, and her head was cocked slightly to the side making her look a little like an off balance pineapple. She looked desperately uncomfortable, and absolutely adorable. Delphine felt her heart swell and twinge at the same time, wishing she could take a photo but not wanting to lose a limb, and she smiled sympathetically at her wife.  
“Ready to go?” At the teary wide eyed nod she received, she moved to the front passenger side, opened the door and reclined the seat to how Cosima now needed it to accommodate her sore back and swollen belly.  
As her wife climbed into the car and sat down, huffing and wincing and groaning, Delphine reached across and settled the seatbelt gently across Cosima’s belly and clicked it into place. She turned her head and kissed her wife on the cheek before drawing out, closing the door carefully and half running around the front of the car to her own seat. Buckled in, she started the engine and brought up the memorised fastest route to the maternity ward in her brain. She checked her mirrors and reversed out on to the road, thinking that at least it was past rush hour and they would arrive quickly.  
Cosima reached her hand across and grasped at Delphine’s bringing it over to rest on her thigh, fingers intertwining. They rode in comfortable silence, the only noises coming from Cosima at each new contraction as her body was racked with more pain, both women content to have a last moment of relative peace together before the next chapter of their life began.


	6. Chapter 6

Delphine attempted to appear like she wasn’t falling apart with nerves inside as she walked as gracefully as possible down the small aisle that had been created in the gardens of her parents stately house on the outskirts of Paris. She barely registered the faces as she passed, though there were not that many to focus on anyway, so she allowed the smile on her face to override the glassiness of her eyes and hoped nobody would notice. Her only real, fleeting thought in that moment was of how wonderful it was that everyone they held in their hearts could make it.  
Her father, on her arm and the only thing holding her upright it seemed, was walking tall and proud. He wore a smile much like her own, and his regal grey moustache twitched happily every time he met someone’s gaze. She knew he’d dreamt of this day, that tradition meant so very much to him, so to have presented him with all their modifications to tradition and have him love her unconditionally was more than she could ever have asked for. She felt a hot tear escape her right eye, and brushed it away before it could coax anymore out with it.  
She could hear Sarah and Felix’s stark British accents whispering against Niehaus and Hendrix North American ones, and as a toddler cried out to it’s sibling there was an unmistakable Ukrainian lilt hushing the child. The French contingent were smaller, and their attempts at speaking conversational English with the guests had ceased momentarily, so they were quieter too. She could hear it though, the poetic cadence of her own language coming from her brothers lips as he draped an arm around their mother and whispered to her about how beautiful his little sister looked, as if it was supposed to stop her from crying.  
Her head was swimming with emotion. Was this really happening? A part of her brain wanted to say no, wanted to push forward terrible memories of terrible times when she had thought her life was well and truly over. When she was lying on the floor of a car park with a bullet hole in her liver, warm red blood spilling out of her and the lingering last taste of her final kiss with Cosima on her lips. She’d been happy to have known true love that day, and heart broken to have lost it. Now they were here. Her vision threatened to give out, and with it her legs.  
“Facile, ma chérie,” her fathers voice carried through the blur and she latched onto it with everything she had, “regarde droit devant.”  
He squeezed the palm he was holding with his own, and gestured down the aisle with his wide hazel eyes and smiled reassuringly.  
Delphine refocused her vision and followed his line of sight. That was when she saw her. Her Cosima. In a full suit not dissimilar to the one she had worn on The Island, but much more modern and far better tailored. Her hands were in her pockets pronouncing the coattails behind her, the look completed by the burgundy bow tie she had chosen. Her dreadlocks were up in a perfectly tied bun, and her trademark Egyptian style makeup and glasses were in place. On her feet she wore the chunkiest and shiniest boots she owned. Delphine felt the air leave her lungs at the sight, and was sure she’d never seen a creature as lovely or as beautiful as the woman she was about to marry. Her father must have heard her lose her breath because he tipped his head to her ear and whispered,  
“C'est comme ça que tu sais qu'elle est la seule.”  
And that was that. At his words a flood of tears streamed from both eyes, and quickly her father produced an embroidered handkerchief from his breast pocket to dab them all away.  
“Je t’aime papa. Toujours.”  
He winked in return, and as they reached where Cosima was stood, he turned and winked at her too. Delphine felt him gently pull his hand free of her grasp, and move over to give his support to her mother.  
Cosima was grinning with all her teeth, her casual stance and effortless elegance were enviable to Delphine as she feared she looked the total opposite, but Cosima couldn’t hide the fact that her eyes were also wet and weeping and the way she looked back at Delphine, well she’d never felt more beautiful in her life. She reached her hand out and interlocked their fingers as Delphine somehow managed to walk the extra step unaided to face her love. She could feel shaking between them but couldn’t tell if it was her hands alone or both of theirs together, and her heart was pumping so loud and fast in her ears she was sure the entire congregation could hear it. Cosima blew a very shaky breath out from between her lips and looked up into Delphine’s eyes with such love and acceptance and -

“You!” Cosima was covered in a layer of sweat, the baby hairs not quite long enough to weave into her dreads were plastered to her forehead and she was panting loudly as pain barrelled through her body with no remorse. She was on all fours on the hospital bed, her arms rigid and her knuckles white as she gripped the edges of the mattress attempting to dissipate the pain. Her eyes were piercing straight into her wife’s as she spoke. “You did this to me!”  
Delphine was rubbing what she thought had been soothing circles on Cosima’s back, and she tugged lightly at the closest hand to offer her own up to be held instead of the mattress. It was readily reaccepted, and promptly squeezed beyond recognition. Her eyelids fluttered closed briefly and she turned her head away under the guise of a cough as she attempted to hide her reaction to the sharp short pain. She tried to keep her tone light, unsure if Cosima would appreciate humour at this point of labour.  
“I distinctly remember we did this together, mon amour. In fact, you insisted.” She tried to kiss Cosima’s closest cheek, but her wife pulled her head away and narrowed her eyes. Her voice was accusatory and full of emotion.  
“No way hosay. You got all those sexy candles, and put on that sexy music, and said all those sexy French words. Obvs I was gonna let you do me and get me pregnant.”  
Delphine felt her face blush furiously as she glanced up at the midwife who was positioned behind Cosima, testing how far dilated she was. The woman raised her eyes to meet Delphine’s and chuckled kindly at the mortified look she found there.  
“Well, I was not expecting to hear that today!”  
Cosima snorted and then made a strangled sobbing sound as another wave of pain hit her. She looked back up at Delphine with pleading, sorrowful eyes.  
“Please make her come out now Delphine. I can’t do this for much longer, it hurts too much.”  
“Hey, you’re doing amazing chèrie, I’m so proud of you,” she knelt so that Cosima could relax her neck and look down at her instead, “breathe with me, remember how we practised? It won’t be much longer..?” She glanced up at the midwife to confirm. A nod in Delphine’s direction.  
“You’re almost fully dilated Cosima, your little one will be along in no time. Concentrate on breathing with Delphine like she said, that’s right dear. Do you want to stay in this position?”  
Cosima nodded her head. Her eyes had closed and her whole body had tensed as yet another wave of pain hit her before the last one had properly ended. She looked very nauseous to Delphine, so she redoubled her efforts on the breathing. Putting on her most smooth and exaggerated accent, knowing Cosima would see through it and give her shit for it later but not caring, she cooed in her loves ear.  
“Avec moi mon amour, dans ... et dehors.” Cosima grimaced but inhaled and exhaled in time with her. “Dans... et dehors.” She repeated herself over and over until brown eyes cracked open and searched her own out. She could tell that Cosima couldn’t speak yet, but the look in her eyes was enough to know she was on the right track. She wrapped her arm around Cosima’s head from below and cradled her, whispering endless terms of endearment and encouraging words in both French and English as her wife concentrated on controlling her breathing.  
Suddenly, Cosima blew her breath out at the wrong time, and her head spun around to find the midwife in the room.  
“Uhhhh I need to push! Like now!”  
The woman was over in seconds but appeared so controlled, and she smiled gently at Cosima.  
“That’s great love, do you want to stay like this for the birth? Are you comfortable?” At the nod of Cosima’s head, she moved behind her and proceeded to organise with her assistant.  
Delphine suddenly felt unsure of where she was supposed to be, or what she was supposed to do. In the classes they’d been to and books they had read Cosima had always been on her back and propped up and she’d thought her wife would want to move to that for the actual birth. It seemed not. Her eyes found Cosima’s. The pain and tension in her face was almost too much to bear.  
“Stay here with me. Please. I need you here.”  
“Of course Cosima. Anything.” Her arm stayed exactly as it was, acting as support and a cradle for Cosima’s head, and Delphine kept her face mere inches from her loves as she watched Cosima follow the midwifes instructions and begin to push.  
Everything after that happened so fast. There was almost no time to take it in. One moment there was only her and Cosima in the room with the midwives and the next there was a tiny wailing human there too. Cosima was gasping for air as she finally felt the baby leave her body. Delphine felt her eyes couldn’t get any wider and she was sure her mouth was hanging open further than it had ever been in her life as she watched their daughter come into the world and be held out by the strong capable hands of the midwife. Cosima slumped forward slightly and Delphine’s attention snapped back to check on her wife. Exhausted eyes found hers. They were both crying.  
“Mon amour, oh, Cosima! You are the most wonderful thing on this planet. Look what you just did! Mon dieu, she’s here!” She peppered Cosima’s face and neck with kisses, her heart beating so fast and pumping so much adrenaline and love around her body she thought she might burst. The midwife interrupted gently with a clearing of her throat.  
“Would you like to cut the cord, mommy?” She smiled encouragingly at Delphine, who couldn’t resist finding Cosima’s eyes for a shared cheeky ‘no shit’ look. She stroked her love’s face, placed a kiss there, and stood shakily.  
“She’s maman.” The muffled words came from Cosima as her face squished into the crumpled sheets beneath her. “Super French remember.”  
Delphine chuckled softly as she moved away and then had her breath taken from her all over again as she saw their baby girl fully for the first time. She was wriggling, mewling and balling her fists and she had her face all screwed up as she did so but she was the most beautiful thing Delphine had ever seen in her life.  
The midwife had everything prepared for her, and it was all over so quickly with so much emotionally charged energy that the scientist in Delphine didn’t get even the slightest chance to comprehend that she was cutting Cosima’s umbilical cord. Almost immediately their baby was taken off to the other side of the small room to be cleaned up, and she was back down at Cosima’s head to support her while she finished giving birth. They clung to each other, and cried near constantly. The happiness and exhaustion and wonder consumed them and pushed them impossibly closer together.  
Soon, Delphine and the midwife helped Cosima move on to her back, propped her up with pillows and wrapped her in fresh sheets. Cosima’s eyes were already searching for their baby - she hadn’t seen her yet - and her vision followed the little cries and wails coming from across the room. Then, the most magical moment of both of their lives descended. Their daughter was carried across to them, wrapped gently in white, and was placed on Cosima’s chest with a huge smile from the midwife and an even bigger one from Delphine. The little girl flexed her legs and uncoordinatedly bumped her tiny fists into barely open eyes.  
“Hi there, little one. I’m your mommy.” Cosima sounded like she was in absolute disbelief, but her entire being was radiating happiness and pride. Delphine felt her hand be grasped by Cosima’s free one, and she manoeuvred her body so that she could lean down and rest her chin on a bare shoulder to look down over the two most important people in her life. Cosima looked back up at her and grinned that classic toothy smile, head cocked slightly to the side, voice full of tired jest. She gestured down to the tiny human in the crook of her arm.  
“You. Look what you did to me.”  
Neither the midwife or Delphine could keep from sharing the quiet laughter, but Delphine had her answer ready and waiting.  
“No, mon amour. Look what we did together.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Mum, when can we go in and meet the baby?” Kira sat on a hard waiting room chair next to her uncle Felix, her legs swinging back and forth as she looked over at her mother across the space. Sarah turned from the coffee machine in the corner and gave her daughter a look that said ‘that’s the fourth time you’ve asked that question in the last hour.’  
“We don’t even know if she’s been born yet monkey.”  
Kira sighed, gave her mother an almost identical exasperated look in return, and folded her arms.  
“She has now.”  
Felix snorted, and slapped his hands on his knees to break the slight tension between the pre-teen and his sister. They were used to Kira’s odd way of knowing things now, but still no closer to figuring out how or why she had the ability. What they hadn’t quite got used to, however, was her burgeoning attitude that effortlessly matched her mothers.  
“Well that’s just marvellous, isn’t it? Another one of you,” he poked a finger into his nieces ribs until she squirmed and giggled, “to bite our ankles and cause chaos. Can’t wait.”  
At that moment, the door to the delivery room opened slightly and an extremely tired and weepy looking Delphine slipped out, closing it softly behind her before she turned to face the small sea of faces waiting for their news. In addition to the seemingly relaxed Brits, Allison stood primly to the left of them with a helium filled balloon and a massive rainbow strewn handmade banner that said congratulations in carefully drawn out letters. Her eyes were bright and shining, and Delphine could tell she was barely containing her excitement. Holding the other end of the banner carefully as if it was the most important task in the world, and still chewing open mouthed on whatever snack she’d brought with her to the hospital, was Helena. Her wild hair and floral fashion choices hadn’t changed a bit over the years but she was ever softer, only growing more endearing by the day.  
As it was 7am, Cosima’s parents were still some time away from arriving, but her wife’s (and by extension her) chosen family had all shown up as soon as the call came that they were at the maternity ward. As they always showed up for each other, over and over again. Delphine supposed Donnie had been given the task of looking after the rest of the children at home while the clan waited outside the delivery room for news.  
“Soooo?” Allison took a tightly controlled bounce forward as Sarah spoke, and Delphine was aware that everyone was holding their breath waiting for her response. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before allowing her smile to grow exponentially and her feet to carry her forward into the small crowd. Kira ran to her, and wrapped her arms around her waist. Shaky fingers stroking through the girl’s soft brown hair, Delphine looked up to meet Sarah’s eyes.  
“She’s perfect.” Her voice came out as a whisper, and she felt tears roll down her cheeks all over again. “They’re both perfect.”  
A massive cheer went up from everyone in the room, and they all raced forward to envelope Delphine in a group hug. Her family. As they all released her one by one she felt Kira’s little hand tug at hers, and she looked down to meet her nieces cute brown eyes.  
“Oui chérie?” That earned her a grin, Kira loved that Delphine could speak French and often asked to practice her homework with her to perfect her accent.  
“Can we go in and see auntie Cosima and the baby now?” Her voice was full of wonder and excitement even as Sarah wrapped her arms loosely around her daughters shoulders and hugged her from behind.  
“Don’t push it monkey, we’ve gotta give Cos some space, yeah? It’s not easy having a baby.”  
Delphine smiled at Sarah kindly and then continued it down to Kira, who was trying desperately not to pout at her mums words. She was still so choked up with emotion her next words came out in a thicker accent and higher tone than she usually carried.  
“It’s ok. Really. Cosima wants to see you all, and we have someone for you to meet.” She gestured for them all to follower her, and lead the way to the door.  
Pushing it open, she held it so that everyone could filter into the room and spread themselves out around the bed that occupied the middle of the space. Her eyes caught Cosima’s and she winked, emotion rising yet again at the sight of her wife propped up with their little girl in her arms. By this time, Cosima had been cleaned up, dressed in her own comfortable loose clothing, made a comfy indent in the pillows provided and insisted that she was well enough to see their visitors. She looked completely exhausted, and Delphine wasn’t entirely convinced she was telling the truth about being up for company so soon, but she knew she couldn’t deny her wife anything after what she had just been through.  
To their credit, every single person in the room shuffled in as quietly as they could, took their turns kissing Cosima on the forehead and then cooing over the bundle in her arms. Delphine perched on the right side of the bed and wrapped her arm around her wife’s shoulders, feeling very, very proud. Kira hustled through the adults and took up position on the left side of her aunt, closest to the baby’s head, and didn’t move. She stared down, open mouthed and fascinated by her gurgling little cousin.  
Cosima grinned sleepily, and rested her forehead against her nieces briefly. She spoke quietly to the room as she moved her head away, but her eyes stayed locked on the baby in her arms.  
“Everyone, meet Sophia Cormier-Niehaus. Sophia, meet your family.”  
A drawn out coo travelled around the room as everyone echoed their own hellos at the new life, commented on how lovely they thought the name was, and welcomed her to the family and the world. Sophia opened her eyes and blinked once, twice, and then stared out unfocused at the human shapes in her vision. A tiny little hand with tiny little fingers and tiny little fingernails reached out and grasped onto Cosima’s chin, and a sob cut through the air.  
Everyone turned to where the noise had come from and found Helena, who had tears pouring down her face, staring at her brand new niece with her wide red rimmed eyes. She glanced up and around the room at the feeling of everyone’s stares.  
“What? Is very cute. Make me want another.”  
Sarah grinned and moved to wrap her twin in a hug.  
“I know what you mean meathead. Cos you done good. Brown hair though Delphine. Sure she’s yours?”  
Her eyes danced playfully as she looked over at Delphine, who touched her chest in mock hurt as she laughed at the question. Her own playful eyes danced back.  
“Cheeky must be genetic. Yes, Sarah, she’s definitely mine.”

*************

Delphine crossed the lab with some difficulty, her usual confident gait impaired by her recent meeting with a medical drill into the bone marrow of her hip. The procedure, done under local anaesthetic and therefore relatively painless at the time, had conjured up unpleasant memories of their frantic last ditch attempt to extract stem cells from Kira to save Cosima’s life many years before. Now they were hoping to create new life with her own. Being scientists with relevant PhD’s and having friends and colleagues that were scientists with other more specific PhD’s had come in very handy once they had forayed into the realms of creating a child that was biologically related to both herself and Cosima. It wasn’t a new idea and some exclusive clinics around the world did offer the technique, but it was crazy science, and they never could resist making it themselves. Together with Scott and their research team, they’d begged and borrowed and eventually put together an incredible lab and a perfect environment in which to carry out their work. Both Cosima and Delphine had known from the very beginning that if they took this route to conception they would only ever have a girl, as making sperm from female stem cells produced only female chromosomes, which added to Cosima’s egg mixed two pairs of them together to create a female embryo. They had discussed the pros and cons of every possible detail of their plan in great length as only a pair of scientists could. They contemplated many things about the process and procedures of every twist and turn, warred with the moral decision of having a biological child when so many needed adopting, struggled with how they would explain a child conceived artificially that was completely related to both of them to their parents when they could not tell them of Cosima’s own origins, but the gender of their future child did not matter one bit. They would love them unconditionally.  
She reached Cosima and the small group of scientists gathered around a screen as they watched sperm cells wiggle around under the microscope and studied test results that had been carried out on them. She placed a kiss on top of her wife’s head and joined them in their observations. Scott looked up from his seated position at the computer screen in question when he felt a dig in his back from Cosima. He wore a lopsided, excited grin as she spoke.  
“Dude. You’ve got, like, really strong sperm.”  
A collective chuckle erupted around the group, and Delphine saw a couple of barely hidden high fives make the rounds. She couldn’t help but laugh with them, although she was sure she found it more amusing that they had managed to find an entire group of the most socially awkward people she’d ever met and then let Cosima loose among them than she found the actual joke.  
“Good to know, Scott. Thank you. Cosima, can I talk to you in the office for a second?” she brushed her hand down her wife’s back as she spoke, and was rewarded by a cheeky side smile as Cosima moved away from the group.  
“Everyone’s gonna think you’re trying to get me alone so you can get me pregnant, Dr. Cormier.” Delphine felt her fingers gripped gently by Cosima’s as she slowly led her wife away from the snickering group and through the door of their shared office. She smiled coyly back, and closed it behind her, not bothering to lock it because she knew they wouldn’t be disturbed.  
“It has crossed my mind once or twice, I won’t lie.” She stuck her tongue out at her wife as she began to undo the belt to her trousers, then continued.  
“But actually I need your help with something much less sexy. Can you change this dressing for me?”


	8. Chapter 8

Soon after they had been introduced to the new arrival the mismatched congregation were ushered out of the delivery room kindly by the midwife, bidding their love and farewells and promises of being back soon. Kira had pouted and asked to stay with her aunties and her new cousin but hadn’t pushed particularly hard when she’d been told bientôt, ma petit chérie by a smiling Delphine, and maybe next time monkey by her serious faced but softly spoken mother. Delphine watched them tackle the ever changing landscape of hormones as Kira approached her teenage years with curiosity and caution, wondering what herself and Cosima would have on their plates in 13 years time.  
Once the room was clear, Cosima had been shown how to breastfeed; the midwife had stayed with the little family until Sophia had finally latched on successfully before informing them she would let them relax for a while and to call her if they needed anything. As she was leaving the room, she turned to face the three bodies huddled together on the bed and spoke with kindness and awe.  
“Your sisters. Identical quads? Fascinating. And all so different. Your family is very special, I can tell.”  
Cosima’s eyes twinkled with mischief at the assumption, but Delphine could see the relief there too. Even so many years after becoming self aware and family to each other the clones still struggled to navigate explaining their identical looks to strangers who were privy to meeting them all at the same time.  
“Yeah, we’re special alright.”  
They were left alone then, just them and their daughter for the first time.  
Cosima pulled exaggerated comical faces at the sensations in her nipples as minuscule gums and lips found them and made a joke she’d been planning for 38 weeks about Sophia taking after her maman as a total boob woman, but Delphine could see she was loving every second of this new experience, even as exhausted as she was. Her wife’s eyes were wide with wonder and she was sure hers were too, she could feel it.  
Cosima turned her head to face Delphine, who was still perched next to her watching in amazement, when it appeared their daughter had finished her first ever breakfast. She grinned and raised an eyebrow in suggestion.  
“Hey, take your top off.”  
Delphine raised her own eyebrow in return but didn’t particularly hesitate to remove her t-shirt at the request. Reclined in just her bra and jeans, she felt her wife shuffle and twist slightly to place Sophia gently front-down on to Delphine’s bare chest. The baby gurgled and fussed at being moved, but within a minute or so had laid her head down to rest on the new expanse of warm freckled skin, grasping at it feebly with her fingers and poking her tongue out as her instincts told her she was near her mothers breast.  
Delphine had held Sophia while Cosima had been being looked after, and had cried and cooed and cried some more at having such a fragile and precious bundle in her arms, but this was entirely different. Skin to skin, next to her heart. Her baby searched for her even though she had no milk to offer, even though she smelled different to Cosima and hadn’t been the one to give birth. The maternal high Delphine was riding climbed to an unexpected new peak. She felt her eyes fill up so much with fresh tears that her vision became blurry, and she blinked to release them down her cheeks so that she could see again. She turned to face Cosima and pressed a salty wet kiss on her lips, eyes closed tight to at least attempt to hold in her emotion. Her gratitude for the gesture, however, was pouring out.  
“Thank you Cosima. For this, for her, for everything.”  
They grinned stupidly at each other in deep understanding then rested their foreheads together as they revelled in the shared moment.  
A little while after, Sophia had been placed in a small cot on wheels by the bed and had promptly fallen asleep, little belly full and the effort of being brought into the world catching up with her. Delphine had gone back to sharing the single bed with her wife at Cosima’s request, and they cuddled tightly in silence as they lay staring at their baby. Delphine’s fingers played softly with Cosima’s, and soon she could hear low, even breathing signalling that her love had finally fallen asleep too. She placed a kiss at her temple and snuggled her head into Cosima’s shoulder, intent on getting a few hours of rest before the Niehaus’s arrived in the afternoon.

******************  
Delphine woke to the sound of her phone ringing in her purse across the room and quickly disentangled herself from Cosima’s limbs in the hope she could reach it before it woke her loves up. Plural. Her heart skipped a beat. She got there in time, and triumphant thoughts of Cosima referencing some sort of ninja pop culture if she had been awake to see the manoeuvre crossed her mind. Maybe those strange Italian-American turtles she loved so much. She was shaken from the amusing thoughts when she saw that it was her father calling, and mentally cursed herself for not calling earlier to let her family in France know her daughter had arrived. She covered her forehead with one hand as she swiped her thumb across the screen to answer before he hung up. She whispered an “Allo, papa!” as she slipped out of the door into the corridor of the maternity wing. It was very late in France, her father was calling her long after her parents usually went to sleep, and when she realised it she felt even worse. Managing to excuse her terrible contact with little white lies about forgetting the time difference and not being able to use her phone, and gratefully receiving his no need to be sorry, I remember what it’s like she quickly filled her proud father in on his grand child so he could get to sleep.  
“Oui, papa, tout va bien... Sophia, elle est belle. Je vais envoyer des photos dès que je suis au téléphone... oui, Cosima se repose, elle était incroyable... d’accord. Donne mon amour à maman, je rappellerai plus tard quand c'est le matin pour toi... je t'aime aussi.”  
The brief conversation had eased her parents worried minds as well as her own conscience and she immediately opened her email app to attach the few photographs she had taken of Sophia to a new message. A few taps to enter the address and little whoosh to signal it had been sent. Just as she was locking her phone and halfway through re entering the private room, her phone began to ring again making her jump.  
“Merde!”  
She closed the door and stood alone in the corridor again. Answering it quickly without even looking at the screen just to stop the noise, Cosima’s mothers voice filled the speaker before she could even say hello.  
“Delphine, hello dear- Jim, no, that’s a one way turn! Delphine? We’re just parking outside the hospital, oh we can’t wait to see- Jim! There’s a space there! Left! Sorry love, I’m a bit over excited to meet my first grandbaby! What floor are you on?”  
Delphine felt herself biting her lower lip and trying not to laugh down the receiver at her quirky Californian in-laws. She gave them the details with a cheery see you soon! and proceeded to put her phone on silent before pushing back through the door to wake her sleeping wife.

“Cosima. Cosima, ma belle. Your parents have arrived.” Delphine gently shook Cosima’s shoulder and trailed her lips across the fine, fluffy baby hairs that decorated the top of her wife’s forehead. Cosima’s eyes fluttered open reluctantly, her nose ring catching the artificial light and glinting as she moved her head sleepily to look up at Delphine. She felt herself melt, for the millionth time that day. Adorable. Totalement adorable.  
“Mmmm. They are? Where?” A hand crept out and over sterile white and blue sheets and grasped her own, squeezing gently.  
“They’re parking their hire car downstairs. Your mom called me just now. She’s very excited, are you ready for this chérie?” She giggled and looked into Cosima’s eyes with a playful and easy glow. Her wife returned the look with equal, cheeky measure as she sat up.  
“Bring it on.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is NSFW :)

Delphine’s head swam with giddiness and nerves as she placed the last few candles around their bedroom and lit them. This was the fourth and last set of additions, although she’d said that to herself after the second and third too. She wanted everything to be perfect, and Cosima loved candles. Dozens of little flames danced in intervals in the half light, rising and falling as they spanned uneven surfaces, their waxy scented composition filling the air with incense and promise.  
She had also moved her vintage vinyl player from its home in the living room to the top of the chest of drawers across from their bed. It was large and heavy and had been difficult to move by herself, but the result would be worth it. She had the record chosen, set, and ready to go: a beautifully composed collection of French classical music performed by an orchestra from Paris whom she’d had the great fortune and privilege to see perform live as a teenager. It had moved her in ways she didn’t fully understand at such a tender age, but as an adult she had fallen under its romantic spell completely. She had played it for Cosima once before, the first time they had made love after returning from The Island, and she hoped her wife would make the connection of new beginnings when she heard it play tonight. Though she was pretty certain, of course, that Cosima would see through everything she had done.

Her eyes swept the room, checking and re checking that everything was ready for when Cosima returned home from the lab. Delphine had called Scott a week ago with her plans for this particular evening, and while he had been awkward and shy and blushing so hard she could feel the heat radiating off his face through her phone, he had agreed to help distract Cosima long enough to ensure Delphine had enough time to leave work, get home and set everything up before Cosima arrived.  
Her wife had been through so much over the last couple of weeks as she prepared her body for pregnancy and underwent all the procedures associated with regular IVF. She had been poked and prodded and extracted from, and even though Delphine could see it was reminding her love of the part of history where she had been poked and prodded and extracted from because she was dying, this time her eyes had remained full of excitement for the future. She’d been so brave and resilient. Tomorrow morning, they would go to the clinic and Cosima would be implanted with their fertilised embryos, three to be exact, to maximise the chances of them taking. Tomorrow morning, their part in the crazy science would be complete and handed over to nature to run its course. Tonight, however, Delphine wanted them to have something tangible and wonderful and passionate to associate with conception instead of clinical, sterile environments with gloved and masked doctors and stainless steel equipment. Tonight, Delphine was going to make love to Cosima and get her pregnant.

A low, old engine rumbled to a halt in the driveway of their house signalling that Cosima had arrived home from the lab in her ancient blue VW Beetle. Delphine checked her reflection in the mirror one last time, flattening her palms and smoothing imaginary creases out.  
The crisp light blue shirt done up to the top button and the neatly pressed black slacks held by a leather belt were offset by the elegant but fine layer of make up she’d applied to her face, the silver cuff links at her wrists and the way she’d tied her hair so that most of her curls were in a bun at her neck, but a few strategic golden locks had been allowed to flow free. She felt sexy, she liked to look a little androgynous sometimes and the style suited her long frame. Besides, she knew that Cosima appreciated her ability to pull off clothes that hid how curvaceous she truly was; knew her wife delighted in the illusion and the reveal as clothes gave way to flesh. A car door slammed, interrupting her thoughts, and then muffled footsteps pattered up steps. Delphine moved to the record player and set her fingers to work in practised motions. Soon the house was filled with the soft beginnings of the first symphony she had chosen. The heavy oak of the front door creaked on it’s hinges and thudded shut as it was closed. She knew she shouldn’t be nervous but the flutter in her stomach and the quickened beating of her heart were uncontrollable. Her favourite voice in the world called out to her as she took a deep breath and walked into the light of the hallway.  
“Hey, Delphine, you’ll never guess what Scotty’s gone an-“ Cosima’s sentence ended abruptly and her eyes raked up and down Delphine’s body as she came into view.  
Objectively, Delphine knew she looked good in this outfit and with this make up, but it still made her body tingle deliciously to see Cosima’s uncontrolled reaction to her. It spurred her confidence, and she smiled flirtatiously at her wife before moving towards her and taking her hand. She bent to kiss a cheek sensually but couldn’t suppress the slight giggle that bubbled up out of her chest as Cosima had been stunned into frozen silence. It was so rare that she had nothing to say. Her mouth still hung open and her eyes were wide as her quick mind put together what the outfit, the make up, the music might mean, but her body failed to keep up. Delphine removed the colourful satchel from her wife’s shoulder, and began to unbutton her long red coat. Slipping it off her shoulders, she revealed Cosima’s new favourite patterned dress that covered all of her chest but none of her arms and fell somewhere just above her bare knees in a flared style. She allowed the feelings that the dress and the body inhabiting it conjured up to wash over her as she hung the coat and bag over the end of the stair bannister. She turned back and gently tugged Cosima’s hands.  
“Ma belle. Mon amour. Come with me?”  
She watched as Cosima nodded curiously and allowed herself to be led into their bedroom, an ever widening grin spreading across her face.  
Delphine heard the gasp, the sharp intake of breath, as Cosima walked into the darkened room that flickered and danced and glowed with the light of uncountable candles. She saw the recognition on her wife’s face as she took in the music, the smells, the atmosphere created, the idea behind the effort. She stood directly in front of Cosima, one hand on her waist and the other cupping her chin, and lifted her face so that their eyes met. She tried to outwardly convey every bit of love she held inside by pushing her feelings out of her hormone filled blood, through her hot skin, into the charged space between their bodies and towards her beautiful wife.  
“Cosima, je veux te faire l'amour. Je veux faire un bébé.”  
Cosima’s face shone in understanding. Head cocked to the side with her dreadlocks spilling over her shoulder, her eyes glistened with happy tears and her pointy teeth showed as she gave Delphine her most lovely smile.  
“Yeah, obvs. Please.”  
Soft lips met her own in an unhurried kiss that seemed to last for hours. Delphine wrapped her shirt covered arms around Cosima’s exposed neck and shoulders and held her close as their tongues slow-danced to the melody-filled air. Cosima’s hands roamed her body leisurely and in seemingly random patterns. She could feel them smoothing and kneading down her back, up over her shoulders, on her belt and waist, round to grasp her behind. They finally settled pressed into her chest between her breasts, and the weight of them in that space felt so perfect. It was consuming, to be touched in so many different places while her own brain was so occupied with just kissing. She felt herself gently surge forward and deepen their connection, pulling Cosima’s body flush against hers and pushing her tongue further into her mouth. They both moaned into the kiss, and the vibrations sent delicious goosebumps down the back of Delphine’s neck.  
She ran her fingertips over fabric covered thighs and then ducked her shoulders down a little so that she could trail her short nails up from the back of Cosima’s knees, up, up and under the dress until the smooth skin of her thighs were under Delphine’s palms and she could caress them while they kissed. Cosima had wrapped her arms around Delphine’s waist, and she allowed her body to melt into her lover as they stood in the embrace.  
Delphine pulled her mouth away from its counterpart to trail tiny kisses along Cosima’s jawline and down her neck, then back up until she reached the shell of her ear. She reached up with one hand to tuck crocheted strands behind it, bent her head and placed her lips against sensitive skin to whisper sweetly.  
“Tu es ma femme, je suis à toi. Je t’aime, Cosima. Je t’aime.”  
Cosima blew out a shaky breath at the words, her hot breath hitting Delphine deliciously on the neck. She seemed suspended in the moment for a few seconds, perhaps the use of French was having it’s desired effect or perhaps she hadn’t understood, but then suddenly she began to push Delphine backwards towards their bed.  
“You’re so hot Delphine, like, I don’t even think it’s legal how hot you are.” Delphine felt hands working at her belt buckle as she pulled Cosima along with her and tumbled on to the double bed. She kicked her shoes off, and heard a second set of thuds as Cosima did the same.  
She lay on her back, propped up on her elbows as Cosima hiked her own dress up her thighs and straddled Delphine’s thighs. Deft fingers made short work of the belt, and it was promptly opened and pulled out of its loops in one swift motion. Cosima looked pleased with herself as she threw it over her shoulder without a thought to where it would land. Delphine couldn’t help but chuckle at the action.  
“Pas ta première fois.”  
A long, low aroused noise escaped Cosima’s lips.  
“Are you, like, planning on speaking in French all evening? Because I think I’m already pregnant.”  
This time, Delphine all-out laughed, but maintained some composure as she pushed herself up and held on around Cosima’s back to keep herself in position.  
“Pas si vite, chérie, je n'ai pas encore eu mon chemin avec toi.”  
She let herself fall backwards again but kept hold of Cosima so that she ended up bent at the waist and a hairs breadth from her face. They stared deep into each other’s eyes as their breathing quickened and their pupils dilated. Cosima lowered her lips until they were almost touching Delphine’s, before she whispered back.  
“Then I guess you’d better have your way with me, Doctor.”  
Delphine realised the volume of the moan that erupted from her and on another night she might have felt a little embarrassed about how much it turned her on when Cosima used her title, but tonight, she didn’t care. Their lips crashed together and Cosima’s hands were undoing her shirt buttons before she had time to react, her own belatedly finding their way into dreadlocks and twisting gently. Once her shirt was unbuttoned and hanging open to reveal that she was braless, and Cosima had expressed her total excitement about the way Delphine looked, she rolled them over so that she was on top and positioned between Cosima’s legs. She felt toes and heels dig in to her calves gently and fingers clasp around her head to grip at the back of her neck. Cosima ground her hips upwards, rolled them like a wave into Delphine’s.  
She steadied herself on her elbows so that their bodies were aligned and touching at every point they could be and resumed her assault on Cosima’s lips, her jaw, her neck. She nipped and sucked and licked her way around all the places she knew her love was sensitive and most of the rest of her too for good measure. Soon, Cosima was writhing underneath her. Fingers dug into the base of her skull and into the muscles of her ass pulling her closer and harder and leaving no illusion as to how much Cosima wanted her in that moment. She felt like her brain and her body were separate entities and while she was completely there with Cosima she could also watch them from above as she floated, see their passion and position and need. The light from the collections of candles cast long shadows around the room and across their over-dressed bodies. The music had steadily grown in tempo, although it was still beautiful and elegant and inspiring.  
Cosima’s hands were at her waist now, fiddling with buttons in the small space between them and pushing at her slacks impatiently so that she would lose them. She did not need to be asked, and within seconds she had rid herself of the offending article of clothing and her panties underneath. She motioned to shrug the open shirt off too so that she would be naked, but Cosima shook her head and bit her lip.  
“Not yet? It’s kinda... doing things to me.” Her eyes twinkled playfully as she slid her hands up the skin at Delphine’s waist, up over her ribs and then to cup her bare breasts that were hidden by the open shirt. Delphine lost her breath and felt her eyebrows raise in flirtation at Cosima’s admission.  
“Dieu, aide-moi à enlever ça.” She tugged at the hem of Cosima’s dress when it appeared her wife had finally not been able to get the gist of her French and began to pull it upwards over her torso. Cosima lifted her body and stretched her arms out above her head to allow the garment to be removed, and then lay in the same pose as Delphine sat back on her knees and admired the view.  
Cosima, in just her bra and panties. Colourful but not garish, lacy but not revealing. Her toned but soft stomach muscles rippled under Delphine’s gaze as it swept the length of her. The way her dreadlocks spilled across the pillow behind her head. The way the candle light danced over her tanned skin and flickered in the reflection of her glasses. The way she was so relaxed in her own body, reclined like that knowing she looked good but not appearing arrogant. The way her eyes burned with intensity and curiosity and revealed themselves, in moments like this, to be the window to her soul.  
Delphine had to physically shake her head a little to clear the haze, concentrating on reaching with her fingers to hook over the edges of Cosima’s panties at her hips. She bent to place a kiss just below her belly button and looked up to make eye contact at the same time.  
“Si belle. Puis-je?”  
“Hell yeah. Get me naked!”  
Delphine smiled into another kiss at her love’s navel and then traced a line down with her tongue as she gently tugged the panties down Cosima’s legs, over her feet and then allowed them to drop from her hand to the floor. She crawled back up the body beneath her, kissing intermittently but avoiding erogenous zones until she reached the flat plane of Cosima’s chest. Her wife pushed herself up onto her elbows so that she had access enough to undo her bra and pull it off her body, and the last barrier was gone. She had Cosima naked and wanting beneath her, in a room full of romantic stimuli and with the promise that tomorrow they would be starting the journey into parenthood together.  
The beautiful woman beneath her pulled her down flush against her body wrapping her legs high around her waist and Delphine immediately felt heat and wetness touch her belly. Her eyes fluttered closed as she pushed her tongue into Cosima’s mouth and ground herself down into that wetness over and over until she could feel Cosima slipping easily against her with each thrust and the delicious friction was causing her wife to become lost beneath her. She shifted her weight to her left elbow and pushed her right hand down between their bodies to touch Cosima more intimately. The heat and the moisture and the smell between her wife’s legs all combined to push pheromones into Delphine’s sense receptors and turn her brain to mush, she was absolutely sure of it. Her fingers trailed through hot folds and found Cosima’s clit already hard and demanding. She circled it with two fingers in a light steady rhythm, looking deep into Cosima’s eyes and blowing hot air from her hovering mouth into the one below as the arousal in her blood caused her chest to heave. Her fingers moved lower and stimulated every part of Cosima’s sex thoroughly, the sounds coming from her wife were now whines and moans and her arms had stretched back to grasp the headboard for leverage as she shamelessly ground her hips into Delphine’s hand, enjoying every way she was being touched but desperately seeking more contact.  
Delphine moved her mouth to Cosima’s nipples; tracing wet kisses down her chest and over to one peak to lavish attention until it was puckered and hard and glistening with saliva and then offering the same, sensual treatment to the other. The fingers of her right hand stayed firmly between Cosima’s legs, now teasing her entrance with slow circles and the occasional swipe of a thumb over her clit.  
Cosima was aching and wanton and hadn’t taken her eyes off Delphine touching her in that shirt the entire time they had been on the bed, but now she wanted her naked too.  
“Babe. The shirt. Take if off now.” She was panting and straining and Delphine didn’t want to leave her for a second but she could never deny Cosima anything. It was, after all, how she had come to take the path she had walked with DYAD and Topside. Her absolute need to give Cosima anything she asked for.  
You have to love all of us.  
“Je t’aime Cosima.” The words came out a little strangled as unexpected emotion bubbled and she had thrown herself backwards onto her knees to remove the shirt quickly, but Cosima just smiled back lovingly and pulled her down on top of her as soon as she could.  
“I love you, too.”  
Delphine kissed her soundly on the lips and then lowered herself down so that their nipples brushed each other and sent little shockwaves of pleasure into their chests. She worked her way down her lovers body again, stopping to swirl her hot tongue over cooling nipples and kiss every inch of soft skin until Cosima was writhing again, and on the verge of pleading.  
When Delphine finally reached the soft patch of hair at the apex of Cosima’s thighs, she inhaled deeply and swore she could actually feel the chemical responses in her body and brain as they reacted to it. It was an animalistic feeling, one she’d never experienced with previous lovers, and also one that she had become addicted to.  
She ran the length of her tongue through swollen, hot folds and found wetness immediately. She moaned at the taste and delighted when the vibrations from her noise coupled with the softness of her tongue made Cosima’s hips roll unabashed into her face. She wrapped one arm around Cosima’s thigh, draped the other across her belly and settled her hips so that she would be comfortable.  
She began with slow, pointed circles of the tip of her tongue around Cosima’s clit before flattening the muscle and stroking her entire length, swirling and searching and responding to indications she’d found a particularly good spot. Cosima’s hands had found their way into her hair and were tugging gently at her crown and behind an ear. The sensations in her body as she pleasured her wife with her tongue and ground her own hips into the bed were consuming and it crossed her mind that she should attempt some control before she came first; after all it had happened before. Her tongue found Cosima’s entrance then, dipping inside and inciting an incredible noise. All conscious thought left Delphine’s head.  
She pushed her face deeper and harder, worked her tongue faster and with more rhythm, kissed and licked and sucked until finally, finally she touched Cosima’s straining undle of nerves head on with her tongue and set the pace she knew from years of practise would send her wife hurtling over the edge into a pleasure filled abyss. It was then that she pushed two of her fingers inside Cosima and curled them, pumping in and out at the same frantic pace as her tongue worked above.  
Hot silky muscles began to contract around her almost immediately. Cosima’s body began to shake, her words and moans became one and the same; unintelligible noises at a pitch that went straight to Delphine’s own throbbing need between her legs. She kept the pace even when it ached, even when she thought she might not be able to hold it, though she always did, and soon she was rewarded with the most beautiful sight she had ever had the fortune to witness. Cosima Niehaus in the throes of orgasm.  
Brown eyes were screwed shut and her body twitched and jerked as the pulses of pleasure rolled through her uncontrollably. Oh god’s and fuck’s littered the air. She dripped with sweat, her skin flushed and her lungs gasping for breath.  
She was utterly incredible.  
Delphine kept her tongue pressed flat to Cosima’s clit and her fingers buried deep inside her to draw out as much pleasure as possible until a hand reached down and gently motioned for her to stop. She dropped her mouth lower as she pulled out and took one last taste of come before resting her head against Cosima’s right thigh and looking up into sated and dazed eyes.  
“You are so beautiful.”  
She placed a soft kiss on the skin directly below her mouth and then pushed herself up to lay beside her love and gather her in her arms. They lay breathing in tandem, snuggled into each other’s necks with limbs entangled for countless minutes until Cosima moved her head back slightly and kissed Delphine on the end of her nose.  
“This was all so awesome, you know? The effort you went to. I’ve been so wrapped up in the science I didn’t think about something like this. Y’know. The traditional way.” She returned her head to its previous position and nestled around until she got comfy again.  
“That’s why you have me, chérie, and since you’re carrying my baby now,” Delphine pulled her own head back to wink conspiratorially at Cosima, “I think I’ll have to be doing a lot more things for you.”  
“Rad. You can totally get Dad tips from Donnie.”  
A squeal filled the air as Delphine poked her finger into bare ribs cursing in French playfully.  
“Euh. You are a brat.”  
“I know, but you love me.”  
“Oui, I do. Don’t get too comfortable, I want to make love to you again. And you have to blow all the candles out for that comment. There are 48.”

***************

“Hello? Delphine, dear. Are you with us?” A voice broke through the blur in her head but she couldn’t quite seem to open her eyes. Hadn’t she just been naked in bed with Cosima?  
“Wha..?” Her voice didn’t seem to want to work either.  
“Do you think she’s ok, Cos love?”  
That voice. Irene.  
“Mom, you just woke her up. Give her a second to, like, come around.”  
Cosima. She groaned. She’d been dreaming extremely vividly of the night they had ‘conceived’ Sophia and she was in a tiny hospital room with her in-laws less than three meters away. The last thing she remembered was sitting down to rest her eyes hours after the Niehaus’s had arrived. She brought her head to her hands without opening her eyes. A cold sweat covered her body. What if she’d spoken in her sleep? She didn’t think she did that but maybe?  
“Delphine, love. Are you ok?” then “Ca va?” A little more loud and definitely more slow.  
“Mom! She’s not forgotten how to speak English!”  
Delphine opened her eyes and blinked in the artificial light, taking in her surroundings. Cosima was sat up in her hospital bed staring over at her with a very interesting look on her face. Irene was hovering close, the look on her face mild confusion and concern. Jim was sat in the second small arm chair on the other side of the room holding a sleeping Sophia in his arms, he was singing a lullaby under his breath and rocking his grand daughter gently.  
Suddenly aware her mother in law was still waiting for an answer as to whether she was ok, Delphine rubbed her eyes and stood up to cross the short distance to where Cosima sat. She intertwined their fingers and smiled over at Irene.  
“I’m fine, I didn’t realise I had fallen asleep! I’m so sorry. Did I miss much?”  
Cosima giggled and whispered in to Delphine’s ear as her mother shook her head in relief and began busying herself with her camera to continue taking photos.  
“It actually sounded like I was the one missing out back there Miss ‘There’s 48 Candles And You’ve Got To Blow Them Out’.”  
Delphine felt her face burst into flames and her hand flew up to her mouth.  
“Merde!”  
Cosima had not stopped laughing, and was now almost doubled over in hysterics.  
“Relax, dude. I’m the only one who knows what that means. You’re lucky mom woke you up before you got to the part where you-“  
Delphine clamped her hand down over Cosima’s mouth as her wife shook with more laughter. It was wonderful to see her so vibrant after being in pain for so many hours over the last two days even if it was at her expense. She allowed her embarrassment to float away as she joined Cosima in their fit of giggles and kissed her love tenderly on the lips.  
“Je t’aime cheeky girl.”


	10. Chapter 10

The first night back in their own bed, in their own house, was a magical experience to Delphine even if it was also terrifying. They were comfortable and had privacy and everything smelled like them instead of the disinfected clinical atmosphere of the hospital; the delicate and fresh scent of their own laundry powder wrapping itself around their senses and welcoming them back home. They had their double bed instead of sharing the cramped single that mostly required Delphine being relegated to the armchair for either of them to get a decent sleep, and they had their kitchen to make food that hadn’t been thought up in the 80’s and mixed with god knows what to keep it the right side of edible.  
She left their ensuite as she moved across the bedroom to where Cosima sat, perched on her side of the bed with an arm draped into the elevated crib. Fingers playing delicately with Sophia’s own. Her wife was humming a sweet lullaby to the already sleeping baby, and the combination of the image and the sound warmed every cell in Delphine’s body. She smiled and kissed Cosima’s bare shoulder, her wife now back in her comfiest attire of tank top and yoga pants as she nested and relaxed. A whispered American accent cut through the hum and big watery eyes turned to meet Delphine’s.  
“It’s crazy. I feel like I have to pinch myself, you know? My whole adult life I didn’t know I wanted this. A wife and a kid. I never saw it for myself, but now I can’t imagine anything else. This is so perfect. And I should say it now before she doesn’t sleep through the nights for years on end and we’re both wondering what the hell we did to our life,” she laughed softly and looked up through her dark rimmed lenses, “I love you so much. You and Sophia, you’re it for me.”  
Cosima was openly but quietly crying and Delphine felt hot tears running down her own cheeks as she wrapped her arms around her small wife and pulled her into her body to be held.  
“Je t’aime Cosima, and this beautiful tiny human we made. This is it for me too.”  
Delphine pressed tear soaked lips to Cosima’s own and attempted to convey every last bit of emotion she was feeling through the salty, chaste connection. She felt fingers run through her hair and gently grasp the back of her neck pulling her tighter into the kiss.  
Delphine pulled away slowly and placed soft kisses along Cosima’s jawline and temple, content on holding her wife and making her feel loved. Cosima was still in discomfort and her entire body was tense and sore from what she had been through, and Delphine could think of nothing better than to get her love tucked up in bed and spooned.  
“Come on, chérie. We’ll need all the hours of sleep we can get now,” she pulled the blanket back and waited for Cosima to recline before pulling it back up and over her wife until it was tucked right under her chin. She gently removed her wife’s glasses and placed them on the nightstand to her left. Dark, loose dreadlocks splayed out over the pale pillow and makeup free eyes blinked sleepily up at the blonde doctor. “There you go. So cute.” Delphine bent to kiss Cosima’s forehead, turned to blow a kiss into the crib where their newborn daughter was sleeping and then moved around to her own side of the bed.  
She slipped under the duvet and reached back across to turn off her bedside lamp, plunging their bedroom into near total darkness. She immediately felt Cosima’s arms blindly searching for her and then the warmth of her wife’s body as she wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and brought her in as close as she could.

*******************************

The sudden, intense wailing cut through her dreams and sleep and body like a hot knife in butter. It was dark and she was in her own bed curled around Cosima’s small warm but tense body. Her skin had goosebumps for a few seconds before she remembered that they were actually at home alone with a baby now, not at hospital with a nurse on hand. Cosima stirred immediately too, her body tensing even more so in Delphine’s arms as she began to respond to Sophia’s cries.  
“She’s probably hungry, go back to sleep babe.”  
Cosima turned and blindly kissed Delphine on the forehead before pulling back the duvet and leaning across to switch on her dim bedside lamp.  
Delphine felt her forehead crease involuntarily as the thought that she could ever go back to sleep and let Cosima deal with their crying baby alone just because she had no milk to offer confused her. She made a mental note to bring the subject up in the morning, she was sure they could figure out some kind of routine that would be equal and fair and ensure they both got some sleep. The newness of the situation and how unprepared she felt to deal with it in that moment threatened to over take her brain as she pulled her own side of the duvet back and slid over to where Cosima was sitting attempting to get Sophia to latch on to a nipple, but her problem solving brain sensed her tension and took over. They were stronger together, like they always had been. She wrapped her right arm loosely around Cosima’s waist and rubbed lightly at Sophia’s tiny toes with her left as she began to softly sing the familiar French lullaby her maman had sung to her when she had been a child. Images flooded her head of Sophia as a toddler singing the French words along with her and her heart felt like it had swelled a thousand times bigger. In her peripherals she saw Cosima smile in delight at the lullaby, Sophia was gurgling happily on her milk and so Delphine took a mental picture of the wonderful moment she never thought she would see. Her little family.


End file.
